


The Lost Abhorsen

by suspiciousteapot



Category: Old Kingdom - Garth Nix
Genre: Clariel spoilers, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-18
Updated: 2014-11-18
Packaged: 2018-02-26 04:26:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2638004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suspiciousteapot/pseuds/suspiciousteapot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt from isitorderorderorisitchaos (SkySkySkylar): “Sabriel and/or Lirael finding out that Chlorr was in the Abhorsen line”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lost Abhorsen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SkySkySkylar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkySkySkylar/gifts).



> So I wasn't sure how to rate this, because there is a part where Lirael remembers the Chlorr killing all of those people when she and Sam fought her.
> 
> Characters and whatnot belong to Garth Nix.
> 
> Kudos, constructive criticism and other comments are, as always, much appreciated.

Sabriel stared at the gently drifting snow, bright in the light of the moon. Distantly she heard the hawks behind her fly to different perches and occasionally chatter amongst themselves. 

She was turning the message the hawk had transmitted to her over in her head. Sabriel had known the message would eventually come; it was that it had arrive now, so soon after Orannis’s defeat, that unsettled her. She assumed it was because one might think that the fight against the Destroyer had weakened the Abhorsen and the Abhorsen-in-waiting. This assumption was not completely wrong. She knew Lirael was still in pain, though physically she was recovered, Sam having quickly made her a golden hand that, after some tweaking, functioned almost as well, and in some ways better, than her old one. She herself was also still recovering from the event. Yet there was nothing to be done but to face this next battle, as she always must.

After a long moment she looked back at the hawk sitting obediently on the windowsill by her hand. It had not moved since delivering its message, waiting expectantly for a treat for its services. She obliged, and it quickly gulped it down and chirruped happily before flying up to join its fellows.

She wondered if she should order Lirael to stay behind. If they were both killed, there would be nobody to defend the kingdom against the Dead. And yet, if she sent alone and was killed, then Lirael would have to face the Chlorr alone.  
She had also heard, from Sam and from Lirael herself, of how traumatized Lirael had been by the last fight. She did not want to drag her sister into something else before she had healed…But that would be stupid, she knew. Fighting a new battle before the wounds from the old one had healed was unavoidable in their line of work, and if they fought together, they could be more sure of succeeding and loosing less lives in the process. What was more, banishing the one who had caused so much pain and death might actually help her deal with her pain. Yes, they would have a better chance of success if they faced this together.

Sabriel watched the hawk for another moment, reconciling herself to the message she would now bring to her sister, before briskly turning and heading down the long flight of stairs to the rest of the castle.

…

Lirael was curled up in a chair in the library with a book Sam had pointed out to her. It was the first volume of a comprehensive history of Charter magic and the Charter bloodlines, written by a prince and six other Charter Mages over 300 years ago.

She looked up as Sabriel entered. Sabriel was not smiling. Lirael had discovered that this was rather unusual of her sister, and that it usually meant something bad had happened.

“Is everything alright?” She asked, rising.

“No.” answered Sabriel bluntly, “I’m afraid I am the bearer of bad news.”

Sabriel sat down in the chair beside Lirael’s, titling to face her. Lirael sat back down.

“The Chlorr of the Mask has returned and has several Free Magic creatures under her control. She has killed many in Gannel.”

As Sabriel spoke, her voice became distant, replaced by the screams of the dying Southerlings. The wooden floor beneath the chair turned into bloodstained mud.

Sabriel took her hand. 

“We _will_ send her past the ninth gate this time. Each time we fought her, we were alone. Together we are stronger.”

Lirael nodded, though her eyes still saw the field of corpses of those who’d tried to escape the Chlorr.

Sabriel pressed on. “I think she will be more disorganized this time, which will be to our advantage.” 

Lirael forced herself away from the massacre in her memory.

“Why?” She asked, looking back up at her sister.

“She spent no effort on trying to conceal her actions, and though the message I received was brief, it seems that she simply targeted the nearest town. What’s more, she did not kill the soldier who sent the message…at least, not before she managed to send it.”

Lirael understood. “She wanted us to know.”

Sabriel nodded. “I believe she hopes to fight us while we are still not fully recovered from Orannis, in hopes of having a better chance of killing us.”

Lirael closed her eyes and nodded, taking in the implications of the information. “That makes sense.”

Sabriel gave her hand a light squeeze. “We will send her past the ninth gate.”

Lirael nodded again. “We should leave soon, I guess.”

“Yes, though we should plan this out before we go. I also want to see if I can find anything more about her past and of any other Abhorsens she may have fought with.”

Lirael looked up sharply, the words triggering a memory.

Sabriel continued, “I’ve looked before, but I want to look again. I think it would be of use to see who she was and how she fought before she had hundreds of years of practice, some weaknesses may remain.”

“Do you think Mogget would tell us anything?” Lirael wondered, “He called her No-Face in Ancelstierre, and when we fought her earlier, he started to say something about who she’d be before…I suppose before she became the Chlorr of the Mask.”

Sabriel considered the information. “The last time I asked him, he said he knew nothing of her, but perhaps now he might be willing to tell us what he knows, as it certainly seems that he knows something.”

She rose and walked to one of the library sendings, asking it to find Mogget and ask him to join them.

Mogget had reappeared as they were all preparing to fly back to Belisaere after having dealt with the fallout of Orannis’s destruction. After confirming they had no fish, he had climbed between the packs in the blue and silver paperwing and promptly fallen asleep, or had at least pretended to fall asleep. They had brought him to the castle, though Touchstone had set a sending to tail him, claiming that he would not let him go unobserved if he was to remain unbound, no matter how he had chosen in the fight against Orannis.

They talked over strategies for confronting the Chlorr as they waited for Mogget, Lirael informing Sabriel that the Chlorr was now one of the Greater Dead. As it turned out, they did not have to wait long, by Mogget standards.

“You summoned me?” he said dryly as he padded over to them.

“What do you know of the Chlorr of the Mask? Of her past, that is.” Sabriel inquired.

“She is old.” Mogget answered. “If that is all.” He turned to walk away.

“You know more than that, I know you do.” Lirael reproached him.

Mogget did not turn back, but made no further moves to leave.  
They waited.

“She was an Abhorsen, once. Not a titular one, but one of the family.”

“ _An Abhorsen?_ ” Sabriel and Lirael cried out simultaneously. 

“Does that really shock you?” Mogget shot back, turning to face them. He directed his gaze to Sabriel “You almost chose her path once.”

Lirael looked at her sister, shocked.

“And you did nothing to stop me, to direct me back to the right path. Did you do the same with her?” Sabriel demanded.

Mogget was silent. He looked oddly guilty. 

“What did you do?” Sabriel asked commandingly.

“It had been years since my bindings had been renewed. Few of the Abhorsens ever came to the House, the useless layabouts. The Abhorsen at the time refused even to deal with what little trouble showed up.” He shrugged. “I chaffed.”

“How does the woman who became the Chlorr come into the story?” urged Lirael.

Mogget paused a long while before answering slowly “Clariel was the granddaughter of the Abhorsen and the King’s second cousin. She had a great affinity for Free Magic. At the time, a powerful noble had taken control of the Belisaere, because the King had decided that he would be as useless as the Abhorsen. Essentially, the noble plotted to kill the King and Clariel decided that though some others were working to resolve the situation, she would stop him. She was a poor Charter Mage, but a strong fighter, due to her rages.”

“She was a berserk?” Sabriel questioned.

“That should not be shocking, given her Royal blood. She was even more dangerous than a regular berserk due the fact that she also had Abhorsen blood. Due to that combination, her particular rages gave her a stronger affinity for Free Magic.” 

He gave Sabriel a haughty glare. “I did warn you that you and the fool shouldn’t breed. Mixing Royal and Abhorsen blood is the reason things like her exist.”

“Both families had many members, and presumably quite a few were berserkers, and yet she was the only one with this Free Magic affinity?” Sabriel asked pointedly.

Mogget did not answer.

“So there is little probability that it will happen again. Beside, this is far from the point of this story. How did she attempt to stop the usurping noble?”

“She freed two Free Magic Creatures from the House and bent them to her will. She used them to return to Belisaere.”

“You were with her.” Sabriel accused. “You told her how to do it.”

“I _told_ you, I chaffed.” Mogget replied, in a tone of voice that sounded rather like a child that knew it had done something wrong, but was not yet ready to admit complete fault

Sabriel stood angrily and stalked to the window.

“What happened next.” She asked sharply.

“She killed the noble and his son, but her creatures rebelled and broke free, as Free Magic Creatures are wont to do. The King died, which mattered little because his granddaughter had returned to claim the throne, and Clariel almost did as well. Her cousin, however, who had become the Abhorsen during her journey to Belisaere, did something stupid, as Abhorsens are wont to do: he and a couple of others healed her as best they could and he set her free.”

They waited, but he said no more, instead choosing to groom his paws. He seemed to have decided that the story was over.

“And after that?” Sabriel prompted, returning to her chair.

“She became the Chlorr of the Mask. Really, I told you that at the beginning of the story, I thought your mind might be able to hold on to that particular fact.” Mogget replied sardonically.

“How, exactly.” Sabriel said deliberately. “There are many years between then and now. What was she doing in that time?”

“It doesn’t matter as much,” replied Mogget, “I’ve told you the interesting bits.”

“When we fought her, you said she was overcautious.” Lirael reminded him. 

“Did I?” Mogget replied disinterestedly. 

“Yes.” Lirael said stubbornly, “and it was not an idle comment.”

Mogget sighed. “She doubted herself at every decision and took unnecessary precautions. She found the bells of a necromancer - ”

“She found the bells by herself did she?” Sabriel interjected pointedly.

Mogget ignored her, continuing his tale. “- but she would not take them, though she took the sword that was with them. She had already bound two powerful Free Magic Creatures, yet she maintained that she would not be a necromancer, that the bells were crossing a dangerous line.”

Sabriel sighed. “Do you think it likely that we could remind her of who she used to be? Is there enough of Clariel left in her that we could use the bells and what you told us of her to show her that she has become the thing she feared she would? Would it be enough to weaken Chlorr?”

Mogget was silent for a while.

“Clariel’s fear of becoming a necromancer was strong enough that that part of her may still be present deep in the Chlorr…but you will have to make that call yourself. ”

“You will not help us?” Lirael asked. She hadn’t considered that he would not join them. Though he always insisted he hated it, he had never left her and Sam on their journey.

“My presence would not be of any help.” Mogget replied curtly. “If you seek to draw out what remains of Clariel, you will not do so with me there.”

“You are her trigger. She would berserk when she saw you, and Clariel would be lost to us.” Sabriel elucidated, understanding his reasoning.

“Correct. I assume you find that arrangement amenable?” Mogget asked, yawning and turning once again to leave.

“Not just yet.” Sabriel ordered, stopping him once again. “We have more questions.”

They talked with Mogget for many more hours, gaining from him any information they could, and then they worked on strategies to fight Chlorr until the clock read three hours past midnight, when they stumbled blearily off to bed.

…

They left as the dawn broke, only a day later. Touchstone, Ellimere and Sameth had gathered on the roof to see them off. They were all tense with worry, and said little, though they embraced Sabriel and Lirael for a long time. Sam and Ellimere made Lirael re-explain the plan as Touchstone and Sabriel said their goodbyes.

They had planned as thoroughly as they could in as little time as possible. As Sabriel prepared the paperwing, her mind dwelt on the dangerous task ahead. They still did not know any details of her plan beyond the information from the initial message, but they had to go, before the Chlorr took any more lives. The realization that soon, either the Chlorr would be vanquished, or she and Lirael would be defeated, and possibly dead, weighed heavily on her. She could only hope that Mogget’s information would prove useful and their plan would work.


End file.
